Street Food | Cambodian Chicken Offal Satay

There is nothing like a good satay; delicious meats placed on bamboo skewers and grilled over charcoal. Until recently my satay experience had been limited to small pieces of beef, chicken or maybe lamb deliciously seasoned and served as an appetizer in Thai or Middle Eastern restaurants. Similarly I have tried Japanese yakitori, Shish kebab and numerous other meats served on sticks. When I was a kid we even had an attachment for the grill that would rotate meat and vegetables that were placed on metal skewers and cooked on a gas grill. This was all great but definitely weak preparation for what I was introduced to on Road 60, just outside Siem Reap, Cambodia.

I had asked Pin Vannak, friend and tour guide extraordinaire to show me some serious Cambodian street food. He took me to a place a few miles outside of town near the entrance of Angkor Wat where locals like to gather in the evening. I was the only “barang” (a non-derogatory Khmer term that roughly means long nosed foreigner) in sight. Vendors were selling housewares, clothing and just about anything else you would want along the road from stalls lit only by fluorescent bulbs powered by car batteries. There was a go-kart track and even a small carnival nearby but what interested me most were the improvised restaurants and food stalls. It was hard to see things in the fading sunlight and drizzle but the aroma was intoxicating.

We wandered around for a few minutes and Vannak showed me several stalls selling various items but what looked most interesting and challenged me most were the chicken offal satay. I had to try them. Take a skewer and place chicken intestine, heart, liver and lungs on it then, just to make things interesting, top it off with an immature chicken ovum. Marinate in, what seemed to be, fish sauce then grill over a charcoal fire and there you have it. It took a few seconds to accept what it was I was about to eat. I mean, in low light the “meat” looked ordinary enough but there was that unlaid chicken egg, kind of just staring at me.

The pointy heart was on the pointy end of the stick so I tried it first. A little tough but delicious! Then came the lungs; the texture was little spongy and it tasted generally like the salty marinade. The intestines were a little chewy, almost like tiny calamari, but again tasted like fish sauce. The liver had a nice soft texture and a familiar taste. It was all good, very good in fact, so far but now it was time for the egg. It was about the size of a ping pong ball, white and perfectly round. I touched it and it felt like hardboiled egg so I decided to take a bite. Not bad actually. It tasted mostly like-well, egg. It was a Cambodian delicatessen variety pack on a stick. By my western standards it was a little strange but overall I really liked it and would try it again. This is not even something that Cambodians eat everyday. If given the opportunity I would encourage you to try it but wouldn’t give you a hard time for passing.

In 2011 Jonathan Look decided to change his life and pursue adventures instead of comfort and possessions. His goal is to travel the world solo; one country at a time, one year at a time. To accomplish this he got rid of most of his possessions, packed up what little he saw as necessities and headed out. His goal is to spend ten years discovering new places, meeting new people and taking the time to learn about them, their values and their place on this tiny planet. He embraces the philosophy that says a person is the sum of their experiences and rejects the fraud of modern consumerism that makes people into slaves of their consumption. He doesn't intend to be modern day ascetic, just more mindful of his place in the world and to make decisions according to that new standard.

In 2011 I sold everything I owned, took early retirement and began traveling the world. It was a pretty radical step, but after living a rather typical American life, a life based on seeking comforts and accumulating possessions, I longed for adventure and experiences far more than holding on to my “stuff.”

I started this blog to demonstrate to my fellow baby boomers that the world is not some scary place to fear, but it is an amazing place, full of adventure, that is still open and available to those who are motivated and curious enough to go out and see it for themselves.